Flap-valve for piano-players.



N0."793,9as. Y PATLNTBD JULY 4, 1905.

w. o. BOWEN.

FLAP VALVE FOR PIAN() PLAYERS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY so, 1904.

UNITED STATES Patented July 4, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER C. BOWEN, OF DETROIT, MICI-IIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO FARRAND ORGAN COMPANY, OF DETROIT MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

FLAP-VALVE FOR PIANO-PLAYERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 793,983, dated July 4, 1905.

Application tiled July 30, 1904. Serial No. 218,826.

T0 (1J/Z whom, if; iii/(Ly concern.-

Be it known that I, VALTER C. BOWEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Vayneand State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in F lap-Valves for Piano-Players, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in the construction of flapvalves for pumping-bellows, as hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out.

Figure I is a perspective view of the usual form of pumping-bellows, showing my invcntion applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the iiap with a portion cut away and one corner of the strip rolled back to show the construction of the iiap. Figs. 3 and 4L are cross-sections of the valve and airport, showing the operation of the valve.

My invention is designed for use on any style of pumping-bellows, such as are used in organs or piano-players. Their usual construction is shown in Fig. l, and consists of a backboard A, the sides and end folding webs B, and the movable board C. C is hinged at its lower end, as at D, to the backboard A, and arranged to swing back and forth on this hinge, thus contracting and expanding the bellows. This motion is usually imparted by a strap, such as E, and is actuated by any suitable mechanism, usually of pedal-move ment, while a spring in the interior of the bellows contracts them when the tension on the strap is released. As these portions of the bellows are of the common form and are not comprised in my invention, I shall not more fully describe them.

The movable board C is provided with airports, as shown at p, and a flap-valve c overing these ports, as F. This flap-valve 1s the subject of my invention. The ordinary flapvalve is constructed of leather, and no preparation of leather has yet been devised by which the leather may be rendered impervimake a tight valve-seating with the edges of the air-ports, is the object of my invention. My flap consists of a strip of rubber-lined cloth G, superimposed upon a facing of soft leather II, the rubber lining I being laid next to the leather. I use rubber-lined cloth in preference to plain rubber, for the reason that the cloth backing prevents the rubber from becoming hard and cracking. The softleather facing H may be more or less porous, and yet the rubber-lined cloth will render the flap impervious to the air.

I attach the'leather facing H to the strip G, preferably by stiching at the edges, as shown at S S in Fig. 2, or by any other suit-- able means. It is desirable that they should be attached only along their edges, for the reason that it leaves the leather flexible, and consequently permits the valve to seat quickly and gives the leather more freedom to so it itself over the air-ports that a tight seating is secured. This flap-valve may be attached at its ends to the board C in the customary manner of attaching flap-valves, as shown at J in Fig. l.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire'to secure by Letters Patentl. A flap-valve for pumping-bellows, comprising a strip of rubber-lined cloth and a facing of soft leather, attached to the bellows-board with the facing thereagainst, the rubber lining of the strip being superimposed upon the facing, and the strip being so attached thereto as to permit free relative movement between those portions ofstrip and facing lying over the bellows-ports.

["ree relative n'le'velneut of the intermediate portions. rl YIn i'esrmony whereof I alx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

VALTER C. BOWEN. Tituesses H. C. SMITH, E. D. AULT. 

